«Atualmente, há tantas pessoas que trabalham para a paz no mundo! Mas, na realidade, elas nada fazem para que essa paz se instale verdadeiramente. Nunca pensaram que, primeiro que tudo, são todas as células do seu corpo, todas as partículas do seu ser físico e psíquico, que devem viver segundo as leis da paz e da harmonia, a fim de emanarem essa paz para a qual pretendem trabalhar. Enquanto escrevem acerca da paz ou se reúnem para falar sobre ela, continuam a alimentar neles mesmos a guerra, pois estão constantemente a lutar contra isto ou aquilo. Então, que paz podem essas pessoas criar? A paz tem de ser instalada pelo homem primeiro nele mesmo, nos seus atos, nos seus sentimentos e nos seus pensamentos. Só então ele trabalhará verdadeiramente para a paz.»
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
«Não existe qualquer representação do ser humano que tenha em conta, de forma absoluta, toda a sua complexidade. Por isso, não é de admirar que as religiões e os diferentes sistemas filosóficos não tenham todos concebido da mesma forma a sua estrutura. Todos falam verdade e isso depende do ponto de vista que cada um adota.
Quando se quer dar uma ideia da anatomia do ser humano, para facilitar a compreensão é-se obrigado a elaborar esquemas diferentes para os diferentes sistemas: ósseo, muscular, circulatório, nervoso... Acontece o mesmo em relação ao organismo psíquico: extamente como um anatomista, um Iniciado servem-se de diferentes esquemas ou divisões, consoante os aspetos do ser humano e os problemas que quer aprofundar.»
`The sephirotic Tree, the cabbalistic Tree of Life, is an image of the universe, which God dwells in and imbues with his essence. It is a symbolic representation of the divine life that flows through the whole of creation. The Tree of Life is a system which can be of tremendous importance in helping us to avoid dispersing our spiritual activity. If you work with this Tree for years, if you study it and savour its fruits, you will be introducing the balance and harmony of cosmic Life into your own lives.' Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
`"Know thyself" was the maxim inscribed on the pediment of the temple at Delphi. What is this `self' that we have to know? Is it a question of knowing our own vices and virtues, our strengths and weaknesses? No: to know oneself is to know the different bodies (the physical, etheric, mental, causal, buddhic and atmic bodies) of which we are formed and what each of these bodies needs. If the initiates of old insisted so much on the necessity of self-knowledge it was because this knowledge opens up tremendous possibilities for growth, progress and success. As long as man is ignorant of the needs of his higher self, he will continue to surfeit his physical body while his soul and spirit suffocate and die of hunger and thirst.'
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
`There are several possible attitudes towards love. You can eat it, you can drink it, and you can breathe it, but you can also live in it.
Those who eat love remain on the physical plane and are never fully satisfied because they are content with pleasures of a lower order. The pleasures of those who drink love are less crude, but they are still confined to the delights and satisfactions of the astral plane. Certain philosophers, writers and artists, who have managed to reach the mental plane, breathe love; love is the constant source of their inspiration. Only those who live in love, in the subtle, etheric dimension of love, truly possess it. For them it is light in the mind and warmth in the heart, and they can pour out that light and warmth on those around them. Those who live in this love possess all fullness.'
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
`Human beings come and go, work and play, and busy themselves with all kinds of things, never realizing that their life is growing dim and dirty because they do nothing to protect it. They think that the life they have received is theirs to dispose of, and that they have a right to use it for pleasure or to become rich, learned or renowned, as they please. So they draw on their reserves without restraint until, one day, they find themselves utterly spent and obliged to abandon all their activities. It is completely senseless to behave like that for, once we have wasted our supply of life, we have no other resources to fall back on.
`The Sages have always said that the only thing that is essential is life itself, and that we must protect, purify and sanctify it and eliminate whatever may hinder or prevent it from developing. And, if we do so, life will give us everything else: health, strength, power, intelligence and beauty - everything! The highest form of magic, the highest form of White Magic is to lead a pure, luminous life.'
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
A Spiritual Master is first of all an example.
A true Spiritual Master is not only a being who knows the essential truths, who possesses control, domination and self-mastery. He is above all a being who, in his multiple past incarnations, had to make the same experiences, the same mistakes, overcome the same obstacles as us before becoming what he is. That is why he is a reference to give us the best conditions to manifest the qualities buried in us.
`For a disciple, to meet his Master is to find a mother who accepts to carry him nine months in her womb to bring him into the spiritual world. And once he is born, that is to say awake, his eyes discover the beauty of creation, his ears hear the divine word, his mouth tastes heavenly food, his feet carry him to the different places of space to do good, and his hands learn to create in the subtle world of the soul.'
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Table of contents
1 - How to Recognize a True Spiritual Master
2 - The Necessity for a Spiritual Master
3 - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
4 - The Exotic Should not be Confused with Spirituality
5 - Learn How to Balance the Material and Spiritual Worlds
6 - A Master is a Mirror Reflecting the Truth
7 - A Master is There Only to Give Light
8 - The Disciple and His Master
9 - The Universal Dimension of a Master
10 - The Magical Presence of a Master
11 - Identification
12 - 'Except Ye Become as Little Children...
